With crisp edges, thick centers, and room for lots of decorating icing, I know you’ll love these soft cut-out sugar cookies. Use your favorite cookie cutters and try my classic royal icing.
Originally published on my website in 2014, this recipe is a massive fan favorite. You’ll also find the recipe in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
This is my flagship recipe for cut-out sugar cookies. I’ve made them at least 38577 times (imagine all the butter), so I figured it’s time to share new recipe tips, a video tutorial, and more helpful information.
Why You’ll Love These Sugar Cookies
- Soft, thick centers with slightly crisp edges
- Irresistible buttery vanilla flavor
- Leave plain or flavor with extras like maple, cinnamon, and more
- Hold their shape
- Flat surface for decorating
- Stay soft for days
- Freeze beautifully
Sugar Cookies Video Tutorial
Overview: How to Make Sugar Cookies with Icing
- Make cookie dough. You only need 7 or 8 ingredients. With so few ingredients, it’s important that you follow the recipe closely. Creamed butter and sugar provide the base of the cookie dough. Flour and egg give the cookies structure, and vanilla extract adds flavor. I almost always add a touch of almond extract for additional flavor and highly recommend that you try it too! Baking powder adds lift, and salt balances the sweet. So many *little ingredients* doing *big jobs* to create a perfect cookie. By the way, I also have a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies!
- Divide in two pieces. Smaller sections of dough are easier to roll out.
- Roll out cookie dough. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thick. If you have difficulty rolling out dough evenly, try this adjustable rolling pin. Speaking from experience—it’s incredibly handy!
- Chill rolled-out cookie dough. Without chilling, these cookie cutter sugar cookies won’t hold their shapes. Chill the rolled-out cookie dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Cut into shapes. If you need suggestions for cookie cutters, I love Ann Clark brand. (Not sponsored, just a genuine fan!) Some of my favorites include this heart set, dog bone, snowflake, snowman, leaf, and a pumpkin. I also use and recommend these heart cookie cutters.
- Bake & cool. Depending on size, the cookies take about 11–12 minutes.
- Decorate. See my suggested icings below. I also have a tutorial on how to decorate sugar cookies with even more helpful decorating tips.
Have a little flour nearby when you’re rolling out the cookie dough. Keep your work surface, hands, and rolling pin lightly floured. This is a relatively soft dough.
The Trick Is the Order of Steps
Notice how I roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it in the refrigerator? That’s my trick and you can see me doing it in the video tutorial in this post.
Let me explain why I do this. Just like when you’re making chocolate chip cookies, to prevent the cookies from over-spreading, the cookie dough must chill in the refrigerator. Roll out the dough right after you prepare it, then chill the rolled-out dough. (At this point the dough is too soft to cut into shapes.) If you chill the cookie dough and then try to roll it out, it will be too cold and difficult to work with.
I also divide the dough in half before rolling it out, and highly recommend you do the same. Smaller sections of dough are simply more manageable.
Another trick! Roll out the cookie dough directly on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. (Parchment paper will slide around on your counter, so I always place a piece of parchment paper on top of a silicone baking mat to roll the dough without slippage.)
Pick up the sheet of parchment with the rolled-out dough on top, transfer it to a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. You don’t need to make room for two baking sheets in your refrigerator—simply stack the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of each other, with the parchment paper in between.
How Thick Do I Roll Sugar Cookies?
These sugar cookies remain soft because they’re rolled out pretty thick. Roll out the cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick or just under 1/4 inch thick. Yes, this is on the thicker side and yes, this produces extra thick and soft cookies. If rolling out cookie dough doesn’t sound appealing, try my drop sugar cookies instead.
Sugar Cookie Icing
I have 3 sugar cookie icing recipes, and you can choose whichever works best for you.
- Favorite Royal Icing: This royal icing is my preferred sugar cookie icing because it’s easy to use, dries within a couple of hours, and doesn’t taste like hardened cement. (It’s on the softer side!) I make it with meringue powder. Meringue powder takes the place of raw egg whites, which is found in traditional royal icing recipes. It eliminates the need for fresh eggs, but still provides the same consistency. You can find meringue powder in some baking aisles, most craft stores with a baking section, and online. The 8-ounce tub always lasts me a good while. The trickiest part is landing on the perfect royal icing consistency, but I provide a video in the royal icing recipe to help you.
- Easy Cookie Icing: This easy cookie icing is ideal for beginners. It’s easier to make than royal icing because you don’t need an electric mixer and the consistency won’t really make or break the outcome. However, it doesn’t provide the same sharp detail that royal icing decorations do. It also takes a good 24 hours to dry.
- Buttercream: This cookie decorating buttercream is also excellent for beginners. You can tint it any color you like, flavor it, and spread it on with a knife or use piping tips. It soft-sets after a few hours, meaning you can carefully stack the cookies for storage.
The pictured heart-shaped cookies are decorated with my royal icing using Wilton piping tip #4. If you’re not into piping tips, you can simply dunk the tops of the cookies into the icing, like we do with these mini animal cracker cookies. 🙂
Sugar Cookie Tips & Tools
Before I leave you with the recipe, let me suggest some useful sugar cookie tools. These are the exact products I use and trust in my own kitchen:
- Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer)
- Baking Sheets
- Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets
- Rolling Pin or this Adjustable Rolling Pin
- Food Coloring: Liquid food coloring can alter the consistency of the icing, so I recommend gel food coloring. For the pictured cookies, I used a few drops of dusty rose and 1 drop of sky blue. This Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit is great to have if you do a lot of decorating and want to have a variety of colors on hand.
- Piping Tips/Squeeze Bottle: If you’re using royal icing, I recommend Wilton piping tip #4 for outlining and flooding. This is a wonderful basic piping tip to have in your collection. If you’re using my easy glaze icing, I recommend using a squeeze bottle.
- Piping Bag: If you’re using royal icing and a piping tip, you need a disposable piping bag or reusable piping bag.
- Couplers: Couplers are handy if you have multiple colors of icing and only 1 tip, and need to move the tip to the other bags of icing.
- Cookie Cutters: I like this heart-shaped cookie cutter, but you can use any shape you desire!
For even more recommendations, see this complete list of my favorite cookie decorating supplies.
Here’s What You Can Do With This Dough
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Striped Fudge Cookie Sandwiches
- Snowman Cookies
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Stained Glass Window Cookies
- Valentine’s Day Cookies
- Maple Cinnamon Cut-Out Cookies
- St. Patrick’s Day Cookies
- Easter Cookies
- Fireworks Cookies
And if you’re craving sugar cookies with a little extra tang, try my cream cheese cut-out cookies with Nutella glaze.
Print
Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours (including chilling)
- Yield: 24 3-4 inch cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With crisp edges, thick centers, and room for lots of decorating icing, I know you’ll love these soft sugar cookies as much as I do. The number of cookies this recipe yields depends on the size of the cookie cutter you use. If you’d like to make dozens of cookies for a large crowd, double the recipe. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)*
For Decorating
- Royal Icing, Easy Glaze Icing, or Cookie Buttercream (royal icing is pictured)
- Assorted sprinkles
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until the mixture is light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. The dough should be soft. If it seems too soft and sticky for rolling, beat in 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Divide the dough in half. Place each portion on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use a bit more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4 inch thick.
- Lightly dust one of the rolled-out dough portions with flour. (This prevents sticking.) Place the second rolled-out dough portion, still on the parchment paper, on top of the first. Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Carefully remove the top piece of dough from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Gather the scraps, reroll, and continue cutting until all the dough is used. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you reroll.) Repeat with the second piece of dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 11–12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are very lightly browned and set. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate the cooled cookies with royal icing, easy cookie icing, or cookie decorating buttercream. Feel free to tint any of the icings with gel food coloring. See post above for recommended decorating tools. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help speed up the icing setting.
- Enjoy cookies right away or wait until the icing sets to serve them. Once the icing has set, these cookies are great for gifting or shipping. Store plain or iced cookies covered tightly at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days. If decorated with cookie buttercream, cover and store decorated cookies at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-safe container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough (before rolling it out) for up to 3 months. Prepare the dough through step 2, divide in half, flatten each half into a disc (like we do with pie crust), wrap each disc in plastic wrap, place both wrapped discs in a freezer-safe container, and freeze. Thaw the wrapped discs in the refrigerator overnight, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill the rolled-out dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting into shapes and baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Wooden Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutter | Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit | Piping Bags (Disposable or Reusable) | Couplers | Wilton Tip #4 | Squeeze Bottle
- Room Temperature: Room-temperature butter is essential. If the dough is too sticky, your butter may have been too soft. Room-temperature butter is actually cool to the touch. Room-temperature egg is preferred so that it mixes quickly and evenly into the cookie dough.
- Flavors: I love flavoring this cookie dough with 1/4 teaspoon almond extract as listed in the ingredients above. For more flavor, use 1/2 teaspoon. Instead of the almond extract, try using 1 teaspoon of maple extract, coconut extract, lemon extract, or peppermint extract. Or add 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon. If using lemon extract, you can also add 1 Tablespoon lemon zest.
- Icing: Use royal icing, easy cookie icing, or cookie decorating buttercream. See post above to read about the differences.
- Can I Double the Recipe? Yes. Double all of the ingredients and divide the dough into 3 or 4 portions in step 3.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Love this recipe! How long does the royal icing take to set? I will need to stack them for travel and do not want to ruin the designs??
Hi Julie, It dries to the touch in an hour or two, but if stacking for travel I usually give them a full 24 hours to dry just to be sure! Keep in mind drying time depends on how much water you use, how thick you apply the frosting, and the humidity level in your house.
Hi Sally,
I use these cookies all the time because they’re amazing! But I wanted to know, if I wanted to make these into cookies n cream style cookies, what quantity of oreo crumbs do you think I would add?
You would have a difficult time rolling out this dough with large chunks in it. I don’t recommend it. How about my Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and use Oreo pieces instead of chocolate chunks (or half Oreo half chocolate chunks)?
Hi Sally, I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. Being Irish, I thought I might make these for St Patrick’s day. I recently purchased a shamrock shaped cookie cutter, however it’s rather large at 41/2”X 5” approx, will the large size effect the end result? I’m guessing that I will have to adjust the cooking time also.
Hi Ellen! You’ll have slightly fewer cookies in the batch and the cookies may take a couple extra minutes. They’re done when they are lightly browned around the edges. Enjoy!
Made these cookies several times you guessed it everyone loves them, have a batch in refrigerator. My grandson informed me I could make on Sunday, ship on Monday and he will have them on Tues. So this will be a nice surprise for him and his college roommates.
Question:
I’m from the UK and looking to make this.. by ‘all purpose flour’ does that just mean plain flour?
For meringue powder does that mean ‘egg white powder’?
Hi Aimee! Yes, plain flour is all-purpose flour. Egg white powder is not the same as meringue powder. Egg white powder can replace egg whites while meringue powder includes ingredients in meringue such as cornstarch and sugar.
Thank you so much for responding! I can’t seem to find meringue powder or if I do it has to be from online which is a fortune.. do you know a different way to do the royal icing with egg white powder or other ingredients? Sorry new to this and don’t want to spend a fortune as just want to give them a go x
Hi Sally ! I was wondering if I could add maybe 2 ounces of cream cheese to this recipe? Would I need to remove 2 oz of butter? Thank you in advance!
Hi Tonija, Try my recipe for Soft Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies. I think you will love them!
the first time I made these cookies, they turned out perfectly. This second time, for my son’s birthday party, they’ve spread out all over the place. I didn’t do anything differently.
This was so much fun on Valentine’s Day with my grandchildren. I used Miyoko’s vegan butter, and needed to add a few extra tablespoons of flour, but the cookies turned out very pretty, soft and delicious. Thank you!
Delicious! Made mini heart cookies to share at work. Everyone loved the flavor. It was a spur of the moment decision the night before to make them, so I used canned frosting to speed the process…but was still a big hit. I will be keeping this recipe to use again!
These were so good I had to make a second batch before Valentine’s Day! The 1/4 tsp of almond extract was a winner in my book. Question – the royal icing on my second batch is a bit crisp – not slightly soft to bite into like my first batch. Any idea what I could have done incorrectly on batch number 2?
Just made these egg free for my son with an egg allergy. In place of the egg, I used 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt and I’m sure it changed the taste a bit, but they are yummy. They are probably even more delicious with the almond extract but I didn’t have any. I’m thrilled that they kept their shape and my son can be part of decorating cookies! Thank you for sharing your recipe! I hope this comment is helpful for anyone else looking for egg free with no weird ingredients.
Hi Amy, Thank you so much for sharing your experience using a substitute for eggs! I’m thrilled that your son is able to enjoy them!
Love this recipe. I googled best sugar cookies and fell in this one to make. It’s perfect for espresso!
Really nice biscuits, thank you
Love this recipe, thank you for sharing!
I’ve been making these for several years since I first found them and they are always a hit!! Now I’m using your site as my go to. For these cookies I make them even thicker than 1/4″ and add almond to the icing…nothing but happy smiles every time and people asking for the recipe. Thank you!
I always cook these just a couple minutes less so they’re extra soft, and the flavor is just perfect. The chocolate sugar cookie recipe of yours is just as wonderful too – I always bake a batch of both when I make sugar cookies. So so good!
Delicious recipe! But, I didn’t get close to 24 cookies out of the recipe using a 4″ cookie cutter. I got 13 cookies out of it, rolling at 1/4″ or even less.
Just made these as a test before making them for my kids school for valentines day. Amazing recipe! So soft and tasted great. I skipped the almond extract. Definently a recipe keeper!
I made these (heart shaped) and they were so cute and so yummy! I’m planning on making more for Valentine’s Day! Do you think it would be possible to freeze the dough in a heart shape? Should I put plastic wrap around them or can I put them in a Tupperware container?
Hi Kennedy! You can definitely freeze the shaped cookie dough. I recommend freezing between layers of parchment paper so they don’t stick together.
Love love love !!! The cookies can be kept in fridge while frosted ?
Very easy and yummy cookies. Love this recipe.
Hi! I’ve made this recipe before and it was a great success. Just wondering if it’s possible to double the recipe? Thanks!
Sure can! I double it all the time. Divide into 4 sections instead of 2.
Can I make these in a heart shaped pan? Like a ‘cookie cake’?
Hi Sheila, I don’t see why not! Or depending on the size of your pan and if you want it to be a little softer, you can use the sugar cookie crust from my Fruit Pizza.
Seriously such a good sugar cookie recipe! 3rd time I have used it, perfect each time. They stay chewy and great for days. Amazing flavor. I only use 1/4 Almond extract in mine because I like a light almond flavor.
My problem is that I am terrible at decorating so end up throwing some out because of my decorating fails!! 🙁
Sally, this is the best cut-out cookie recipe I’ve used. I’ve been doing cut-outs for years always trying different recipes because there would be something small about each one that I didn’t like. I am finally done with all my experimenting! I love that you list the weight because that’s the key to good, consistent baking. Just got done making a batch of arrowhead-shaped cut-outs for the Super Bowl. Go Chiefs!
If my dough tends to spread out while cooking, what did I do wrong?
Hi Stephanie, The most important thing for these sugar cookies is to make sure your dough is very cold! Also, this post, 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading, will help you troubleshoot!
My one note would be to be careful about the baking time. Usually my oven is accurate with Sally’s recipe’s but my cookies were overdone at 11 minutes, and the more appropriate time was 8 minutes. Keep a watch on them so you don’t have to toss your first batch like I did!
Hi Kelly, Yes I always recommend using your eyes more than the oven timer! Especially for sugar cookies where bake time will depend greatly on the size and shape of your cookie cutters 🙂
I really love these sugar cookies! The almond extract sets them over the top! My husband now refuses to eat sugar cookies without it! I have a family member that can’t have gluten. Would these still turn out great if I used a gluten free flour?
I baked these cookies with a gluten free all purpose flour. I did everything else the same except the cooking time. These definitely needed a little extra time. More of a golden brown is needed or else they will fall apart. Without gluten they have more of a dry crumbly texture but the flavor is still good. My sister in law was very happy about getting to have sugar cookies. She said the crumbly texture is normal with gluten free stuff. It was my first time baking with gluten free flour and think it went pretty well. I think maybe next time I will try adding an egg yolk. Maybe that will help with the texture?
I love these cookies. Best sugar cookies ever and I have tried a lot of recipes. Find the tips and instructions especially helpful. Thanks Sally.
the cookie is good on its own without icing, but when you have the option of adding icing you have to add the icing. We chose the royal icing. It was a great family activity to decorate them together. I’m certain we ended up with only half of the total cookie count after we finished icing them.
Thank you Sally for this incredibly easy and delicious recipe. I am 72 and decided 2020 was the year I would learn to bake. Fortunately I found your site and all your tried and true tips. The videos are so instructive and easy to follow and I am enjoying using my art skills in decorating.
As a newbie, rolling dough before chilling….brilliant
Adding almond extract…..should be mandatory
Meringue powder instead of egg whites……success for me
Following your directions faithfully….well, thats the key, isn’t it?
You are a wonderful teacher. Thank you.
Hi Sally, I tried baking these cookies and my cookies ended up losing the shape and ended up like a puddle, the heart ended up looking like a round circle and the edges were not crisp (sharp) it ended up round….what am I doing wrong my dough too thin? Am I adding too much baking powder?
Hi Vicky! I’m happy to help. Make sure the cookie dough is sufficiently chilled. There is plenty of flour to soak up the butter, so over-spreading shouldn’t be an issue unless the dough is not chilled OR the dough is rolled too thin. Make sure you keep it on the thicker side.